Halos Heaven in the Wall Street Journal
The final, summarizing quote is by yours truly. Enjoy.
over 3 years ago
Rev Halofan
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Good summary quote
And one that every Angel fan should take to heart. Since 02 being an Angel fan has been a joy, for the most part. But my younger years and childhood were marked with more Halo associated heartbreak, than joy.
YOU DON'T KNOW THE POWER OF THE DARKSIDE.....
Screw Pythagoras
and Euclid too, while I’m at it.
As Jim Healy used to say, good teams win close games. We win lots of close games, most of them low-scoring. Those we lose tend not to be close. This may not be typical, but it’s not luck. It’s talent.
Still, the guy knew where to go to for an accurate Angel fan’s perspective, so there is a bit of the Panther in him.
". . .and the young lions will lock horns!" -- Ron Fairly, from an Angels telecast
This team even shocks me
But what that means is that we have a special intangibility that can’t be described. More often than not that translates into something special during the playoffs. The thing is, we don’t need luck, we just need a little bit of luck.
Angel Pitching, Angel Defense - get past that.
Was it just me, or did that article seem amateur-ish?
Especially for the WSJ? I’m the king of amateur-ish writing and I felt like I was reading The Onion.
Its defininately cool that he quoted the Rev. And its awesome to get that kind of exposure.
I was uncool before uncool was cool.
Sure hit me that way.
Seemed like sour grapes to me written with an east coast bias from a Yankee fan.
Luck is what happens to those that are prepared to face the challenge at hand. We have a great team that plays at a higher level than most others. Beyond that, this team has ‘magic’ in its chemistry and a coach that not only intimately undestands his team’s makeup, but understands and executes the game of baseball the way it is supposed to be played.
Rev, I am happy for you that you got your name in the WSJ and you are to congradulated for that. But your quote hit me as something I would more likely hear from a Cub’s fan…..
by HaloMachismo on Sep 26, 2008 8:15 AM PDT up reply actions
Any article that bases it's story on the Angels success as "Lucky" instantly shows they do not follow the team
or have even watched any games at all. It is the typical banter heard on any other fansite that the only reason the Angels have done so well and won so many games is pure luck. These are the articles and analysis about the Angels that I just immediately pass on.
WSJ couldn't have picked a better week to publish an article related to "luck"
The media’s hesitance to give credit may be maddening, I’m fine with it. Hopefully we’ll be hearing how “lucky” they are as they mow through October.
by Big Easy Halofan on Sep 26, 2008 8:11 AM PDT reply actions
Very classy, considering the (ahem) exchange of a week or so ago.
Are you going to change your screen name “Mildwill”?
by sothball on Sep 26, 2008 8:37 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Let's hope other teams underestimate us as badly as this article does.
If a team is this far outside normal bounds, it’s time to wonder if you’re using the wrong measurement system.
*Visiting Angels fan* Never give up, never surrender!
Sabermetrics are a collection of nice statistical tools. Like any statistical tools...
…they are useful ONLY for semi-accurate forecasts. Just ask the Mariners, Tigers, Rays, Rockies….
Congrats to you Rev but.........................
That is the worst article I have ever read. It makes Dayn Perry look like a Pulitzer prize winning author.
The Angels may have beat them 8 times in a row, but winning three before they do is all that matters.
One other thing I don't see mentioned in the WSJ article:
We are the only team in the AL with a winning road record. And we 19 games over .500 on the road. I don’t see how you can possibly call that luck. The Angels are the only team not dependent upon their home park for their record.
*Visiting Angels fan* Never give up, never surrender!
Earlier in the year I thought the Angels were much luckier than they actually are in my opinion now
Soth manages much more based on the score than other managers. Angels are up by 7 runs…. Garland is allowed to give up 9. Angels are up by 1 run…. Arredondo comes out after 1 hit sometimes.
Basically Mike allows other teams to come back into the game more often because he wants more innings out of his starters. I also think he can afford to do that slightly more than other teams because the Angels bullpen is DEEP compared to a lot of teams. I mean teams would kill to have Arredondo on their postseason roster and he’s 3rd on their depth chart. Oliver comes in during the 6th inning and is doing a wonderful job. A lot of teams don’t have that depth that allows them to give their starters a bit more rope.
Plus the Angels have had pitiful long relievers/spot starters at times. Adenhart blew chunks and had a few starts/ Moseley wasn’t 100% for a long time/Speier is pretty bad. They came in and gave up a ton of runs and made the score 15-3 instead of it being 8-3.
At the end of the day
All that matters are the W’s and L’s. I do think that the run differential thing means something, but I don’t think it should define our season. I think we have as good of a shot as anybody to win the Series. The thing that this ignores is that we have a great bullpen and a great manager who knows how to use that bullpen. The reason the D-backs couldn’t duplicate their success this year is that the bullpen couldn’t hold onto a lot of those close leads and their hitting just wasn’t quite good enough to make up those one-run deficits.
The thing that mostly bothers me about the Pythagorean W-L/Lucky one-run wins theory is that people who tout that theory can never be wrong. If the Angels win the Series, it’s a small sample size. If the Angels lose the Series, well obviously their run differential shows us that they weren’t all that good to begin with. Anything can happen in baseball. That’s what makes it (and other sports) so great to watch.
The Angels can beat the Sawx or the Cubs any day of the week, run differentials be damned.
I feel the need, the need...for speed!
2008 + 2009
We’re in real good shape for this year, but we need to not have Mariners disease in 2009 and think we’re a perfect team. I mean after we win the pennant for 2008, the freaking A’s have a chance to beat us in 2009. Ninja can’t rest on his laurels.
This offseason is gonna be huge.
There are people that need to be signed: Teix, Sabathia, K-Rod (We’re not getting all 3).
There are people that need to be reupped: Lackey, Vlad.
There are people that it would be nice to lock up: Santana, Saunders.
Do we keep GA around another year? (My answer, much as it breaks my heart, is no.) Do we get Rivera back? Do we keep Garland? Is there anyone dumb enough to want Gary Matthews Jr?
*Visiting Angels fan* Never give up, never surrender!
Ditch K-Rod
And go with Arredondo. Sign Tex at all costs. Sabathia’s arm will fall off and we can find a 4/5 starter much cheaper.
Letting Garland and K-Rod go will free up the cash to sign Tex. Let Rivera walk – Morales can cover his spot. If anyone anywhere will take GMJ, do it.
I want to keep GA really badly. I like him a lot – he’s been a solid player for a long time. He’s got an outside shot at getting to 3k hits, which would be awesome. He’s definitely not worth the $14 million option, so my strategy would be to buy him out and try to renegotiate a 3 or 4 year, $6.5 per year deal. This is my rooting bias getting in the way of logic and reason, but so be it. I like the guy.
I feel the need, the need...for speed!
At least I am assured
that people are reading today’s issue if ever they picked up one issue of the WSJ.
by Rev Halofan on Sep 26, 2008 12:33 PM PDT up reply actions
Ahhhh Yes but your also assured
of more blogwhores to the site grasshoper
Willie Mays Aikens is FREeeeeeeee
by Angel Aviator on Sep 26, 2008 2:37 PM PDT up reply actions
Hostility Abounds
they will find my fuse short and my powder dry.
by Rev Halofan on Sep 26, 2008 10:48 PM PDT up reply actions
I was pissed off for awhile about this lucky theory
and then two quotes kinda struck me.
the first is “You make your own luck” meaning that if you put yourself in a good position to win, chances are, you are going to.
The other quote is my sig
Exceeding expectations is less a matter of luck than possession of certain assets.
"Luck is where preparation meets opportunity."
This is not original to me, and I am not sure where I first heard it. But it sure has been accurate in my experience!
that is an old saying
my dad’s gramma used to tell him that in the great depression.
and it is just as true now as it was back then.
by Rev Halofan on Sep 26, 2008 10:49 PM PDT up reply actions
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